Penetration Testing Scope

Penetration Testing Scope The main objective of this document is to provide the readers a view on importance of Penetration test in network security and how it will overcome the network security issues and how organizations are determining their security weaknesses in their network infrastructures. With the help of this document, readers can obtain knowledge about advantages, strategies, types, tools and techniques of the penetration testing. Introduction: Penetration testing method is one of the oldest network security techniques for evaluating the securities of a network system. Penetration testing method used by Department of Defence in early 1970s to determine the security weaknesses in computer system and to initiate the development of programs to create more secure system. Using penetration testing, organization can fix their security weaknesses before they get unprotected. Many companies are using this method because penetration testing will provide proper security information systems and services to the organizations network systems. Organization can reduce risk in their network system using penetration testing tools and techniques. The main objective of the penetration testing is to evaluate the security weaknesses of the organizations network systems. Penetration testing has more secondary objectives and that will help the organization to identify their security incidents and also test the security awareness of the employees. Scope and Goals of the Penetration Testing: Identifying gaps in security: Organization can identify the gap of the system security and company can develop an action plan to reduce the threat with the help of penetration test. Help to create strong business case: A penetration test result document will help the manager to create a strong business case to produce the security message at the implementation stage. To discover new threats: Penetration testing measures will help the organization to find the new threats. To focus on internal security resources: A Penetration test and its security analysis allow the organization to focus internal security resources. To meet regulatory compliances: Organization can meet their regulatory compliances using penetration testing tools. To find weakest link: Penetration test and security audit will assist the firm to find the weakest link in their intricate structure and it will provide baseline security for all typical entities. Provide validation feedback: Penetration test deliver validation feedback to business entities and security framework that lead the organization to reduce the risk in the implementation. Phases of the Penetration Test: Discovery Planning Attack Reporting Additional Discovery Planning Phase: Scope of the test will be defined in planning phase. In this phase, testing team will get the approvals, documents and agreements like NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) and they will set the baseline for effective penetration test after that documents are signed. Penetration test team will get certain input from existing security plan, industry standards and best practices while defining their scope for the test. No real testing activity happens in the planning stage. Factor influencing the successful Penetration test: Time: Legal restriction: Discovery Phase: The real testing activity will start from this phase. In this stage, they used to identify the potential target using network scanning and to gather information using port scanning and other techniques. Vulnerability is the second part of this discovery phase. In this stage, application, operating system and services are equated against vulnerability database. Normally human testers use their own database or public database to find vulnerabilities manually. Compare with automated testing, manual testing is better way to identify the new vulnerabilities but this type of testing is time consuming unlike automated testing. This Phase can be further Characterized as: Footprinting Phase Canning and Enumeration Phase Vulnerability Analysis Phase Footprinting Phase: The process of footprinting is a completely non-disturbing activity executed to get information available about the target organization and its system using various resources, both technical and non-technical. This process includes probing the internet, querying various public repositories (Database, Domain registrar, Usenet groups and mailing list). In this phase, penetration tester will gather significant information and confidential data through internet without probing the target system. Penetration tester will conduct the social engineering attacks for that they will collect valuable information like IT setup details, e-mail address of the company, device configuration and username and password. In this phase, penetration tester tries to find various loopholes and try to explore data leakage about the target organization in shortest time period. Mostly procedure of this phase can be automated using customized script and small programs. Scanning and Enumeration: The scanning and enumeration phase includes lot of activity like identifying the live system, open / filtered ports found, service running on these ports, identifying the operating system details, network path discovery, mapping router / firewall rules, etc. Penetration tester must be careful while using the tools for these activities because they should not overwhelm the target systems with extreme traffic. Before going into live scenario, successive phase should be tested completely in a testing environment. Types of Port Scanner: Nmap SuperScan Hping Services should be fingerprinted either manually or using existing tools after successfully identifying the open ports. Penetration tester will provide exact name and version of the services which running on the target system and the underlying Operating system before including these in the final report. Also this will help to identifying and removing numerous false positive found later. Existing Fingerprint Tools: Xprobe2 Queso Nmap Amap Winfingerprint P0f Httprint Vulnerability Analysis: In this stage, penetration tester will try to identify possible vulnerabilities existing in each target system after identifying the target systems and collecting required details from the previous phase. During this stage penetration tester may use automated tools to find the vulnerabilities in the target systems. These tools have their own record containing of latest vulnerabilities and their details. In vulnerability analysis stage, penetration tester will test the systems by giving invalid inputs, random strings, etc. to check for any errors or unintended behaviour in the systems output. Penetration tester should not depend only on his experience because a successful penetration tester should be up to date with latest security related activities and join with security related mailing-lists, security blogs, advisories, etc. to keep him updated to the latest vulnerabilities. Types of Vulnerability Scanners: Nessus Shadow Security Scanner Retina ISS Scanner SARA GFI LANguard Attack Phase: Attack phase is a vital stage in penetration testing, the most challenging and interesting phase for the penetration tester. This Phase can be further Characterized as: Exploitation Phase Privilege Escalation Phase Exploitation Phase: In this phase, penetration tested will try to identify activities for the various vulnerabilities found in the previous stage. Penetration tester can get more resources from internets that provide proof-of-conception exploits for most of the vulnerabilities. In exploitation stage, all exploit should be tested thoroughly before going for a real implementation. If any vulnerabilities critical system not exploited then penetration tester should give sufficient documented proof-of-concepts about the impact of the vulnerability on the organizations business. Exploitation Frameworks: Metasploit Project Core Security Technologys Impact Immunitys CANVAS Instead of running exploitation, penetration tester need to use the full potential framework to reduce the time in writing custom exploits. Gaining Access Discovery Phase Rising Privilege System Surfing Install Add Test Software Enough data has been Gathered in the discovery phase to make an attempt to Access the target. If only user-level access was obtained in the last step, the tester will now seek to gain complete control of the system. The information gathering process begins again to identify mechanism to gain access to trusted system. Additional presentation testing software is installed to gain additional information and/or access. Attack Phase Step with Look back to Discovery Phase Privilege Escalation: In this stage, penetration tester will make further analysis to get more information that will help to getting administrative privileges. Before continuing further process, penetration tester should get the prior permission from the target organization. Penetration tester will maintain his all activity report because in the reporting stage that will be the proof for all the activities completed. Tester may install additional software for higher level of privilege. Reporting Phase: Reporting stage is the last phase in the penetration test methodology. Reporting phase will parlay occurred with other three stages or it will happen after attack phase. This reporting phase is very vital stage and this this report will cover both management and technical aspects, provide detailed information about all findings, figures with proper graphs. Penetration tester will provide suitable presentation of the vulnerabilities and its impact to the business of the target organization. Final document will be detailed and it will provide technical description of the vulnerabilities. Penetration tester should meet the client requirement in the documents also document should be detailed and that will show the ability of the successful penetration tester. Report Consist of: Executive Summary Detailed Findings Risk level of the Vulnerabilities found Business Impact Recommendations Conclusion Penetration Testing Strategy: External Testing Strategy: In this strategy, process made from outside the organizations system to refers attack on the organizations network border, this may be through Internet or Extranet. External testing strategy will start with clients publically accessible information. Naturally the External testing approach will executed with non-disclosure or fully disclosure environment. This test will target the organizations externally visible server or device like Domain Name Server (DNS), Firewall and E-mail server. Internal Testing Strategy: Internal testing approach executed from inside the organizations technology environment. The focuses of the internal testing strategy is to know what could occur if the network border were penetrated effectively or what an authorized user could do to penetrate specific information resources inside the organizations network. Both type of testing techniques are similar but the result of both tests will vary prominently. Blind Testing Strategy: Blind testing approach targets at pretending the activities and processes of a real hacker. In this approach, testing team will provide limited information about organizations systems configuration. The penetration testing team gather information about the target to conduct its penetration test using publically available information like company web-site, domain name registry, internet discussion board and USENET. This testing approach can provide lot of information about the organization but this method of testing is very time consuming. Double Blind Testing Strategy: This testing strategy is an extension of blind testing approach. In this testing approach, IT and security staff of the organization will not informed earlier and are blind to the strategic testing activities. Double blind testing strategy is a vital component of testing because it can test the organizations security monitoring and incident identification, escalating and response procedure. The main objective of this testing approach is only few people from the organization will aware of this testing activity. Once the objective of the test has been achieved then project manager will terminate the response procedure of the organization and testing procedures. Targeted Testing Strategy: Another name of this testing strategy is lights-turned-on approach. In this testing approach, both organizations IT staff and penetration testing team involve in this testing activities. In this test, there will be a clear understanding of testing actions and information about the target and network design. Targeted testing approach is very cost effective because this test mainly focused on technical setting or design of the network. This test can executed in less time and effort unlike blind test but this approach will not give clear picture of an organizations vulnerabilities and response capabilities. Types of Penetration testing There are many type of penetration test available to test the network security of an organization. But type of penetration test may depend upon the organizations needs to test their network. Black-box Testing: White-box Testing: DOS (Denial Of Service): This type of testing tries to identify the weaknesses on the system through exhausting the targets resources because it will stop responding to legal request. Denial of service testing can perform on both manually and automated tools. This test is classified into two types such as software exploits and flooding attacks. The level of this test depending upon the penetration tests information system and related resources. There are more formats in this test such as: Application Security Testing: Application security testing will protect the confidentiality and reliability of information using applications encryption and objective of this testing is to assess the control over the applications (Electronic commerce server, on-line financial applications, distributed applications and internet front ends to legacy systems) and its process flow. Components of Application Security Testing: Code Review: In this type of testing, analysing the code of the application because it should not contain the sensitive data. Authorization Testing: Authorization testing includes Analysing the system initiation and maintenance of the user sessions like Input validation of login fields, Cookies security and lockout testing. Functionality Testing: Functionality testing involves testing the functionality of the application such as input validation and transaction testing as presented to a user. War Dialling: Tools for Penetration Testing: Reconnaissance Tools: Nmap (Network Mapper): Network mapper (Nmap) is a powerful port scan tool and its a part of reconnaissance tools of penetration testing. Network mapper has ability to regulate the operating system of the target system. Network mapper maintains a database for the target computer to find its operating systems resospnse3. Network mapper is a permitted product for network security review. Network mapper was intended to quickly scan big network but it will work fine against single network. Network mapper is compatible with all major operating system like Windows, Linux and MAC operating system.2. Features of the Network mapper (Nmap) Flexible Nmap will support different advanced techniques for mapping out networks such as firewalls, IP filters and other obstacles. This tool also contains port scanners mechanism (TCP UDP), version detection, version detection, Prevailing Portable Easy Free Well documented Supported Acclaimed Popular http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9087439/Five_free_pen_testing_tools http://nmap.org/ http://www.sans.org/reading_room/analysts_program/PenetrationTesting_June06.pdf https://buildsecurityin.us-cert.gov/bsi/articles/tools/penetration/657-BSI.html Nessus Nessus is a vulnerability assessment tool and its free domain software released by GPLS. This tool is intended to identify the security problem. Nessus helps the management people to rectify the security problem before exploitation. Client server technology is very powerful features of Nessus. Penetration tester can test from various point of the server because Different server technology placed in various place. It can control the entire server using multiple distributed clients or central client. This tool is very flexible for penetration tester because it can run on different operating system like MAC OS X and IBM/AIX but most of the server portion will run on UNIX. Features of the Nessus: Up-to-date security vulnerability Database Nessus tool will check the database regularly and Nessus can receive with the command Nessus-update-plugins. This tool will monitor all the plugins data. Remote and Local security Nessus has the ability to detect the remote faults of the host in a network and also it will remove local flaws and omitted areas. Scalable Nessus is very scalable because it can run on a computer with low memory. If we give more power to this tool then it can scan our system quickly. Plug-Ins Every security test will be written in NASL; also its printed as an exterior plugin. For updating the Nessus, it will not download binaries from internet and to understand the result of the Nessus report, every NASL can be read and modified. NASL (Nessus Attack Scripting Language) The Nessus security Scanner contain NASL, its a designed language to inscribe security test easily and quickly. NASL run in a controlled environment on top of a virtual device, this will make the Nessus a very secure scanner. Smart Service Recognition with Multiple Services Nessus tool helps to recognize the FTP server which running in an unidentified port. This is the first tool to hold this facility. If the host runs the similar services twice or more then Nessus can scan all of them. Full SSL Support and Non-Destructive This tool has the ability to scan SSL services like https, imaps, smtps and more. Nessus tool can integrate with PKI field environment. Nessus is the first scanning tool has this feature. Nessus tool will give more option to the tester to perform a regular non-destructive security audit. Packet Manipulation and Password Cracking Tools Exploitation Tools Metasploit Version Metasploit framework is both penetration testing system and a development platform for creating security tools and techniques. Metasploit framework comprises of tools, modules, libraries and user interfaces. Metasploit framework used to network security and network security professionals will use this framework to conduct penetration test, system administrators to verify the patch connection, to perform regression testing by product vendors, and security researcher world-wide. This tool offers valuable information and tools for penetration tester security researcher. Metasploit framework written in Ruby programming language and contains components written in C and assembler. The basic function of this tool is a Module launcher, allow the user to organize the exploit module and launch the module at target system. Metasploit is very user friendly to the penetration tester to conduct the test and it will give full network penetration testing capabilities. Metasploit is an open source framework and largest combined public databank of exploits. Security Forest exploitation Framework Limitations of Penetration Testing: Penetration testing will not identify all vulnerabilities because normally this test will carried out as Black Box exercises. Penetration test will not provide information about new vulnerabilities those weaknesses identified after the test. Penetration tester will not have sufficient information about the system. Compare with vulnerability assessments, penetration test is not the correct way to identify the weaknesses because vulnerability assessments can identify more issue than penetration testing using diagnostic review of all systems and all servers. Penetration test does not have that much time to evaluate and identify the vulnerabilities and penetration testing is a snapshot for an organization and its network security. Conclusion: Scope of the penetration testing should be increased. Time period of penetration testing is very limited. Time limit of penetration testing needs to be increased, then testing team can identify more issues and testing team can protect the network security of an organization. Further action needs to be taken against vulnerabilities that identified as a result of penetration test. Penetration Testing Definitions: Penetration test is a method to assess the organizations data security system in dynamic way. The information security system of an organization will be tested to identify any security issues. In other way, penetration test is a theoretical or paper based audit. What is Penetration Test? Penetration test is a sequence of actions to find and exploit security weaknesses of the systems. Penetration test naturally includes group of people financed by the organization and Department of Internal Audit or IT department to conduct the test. Penetration test team member attempts to accomplish vulnerabilities in the system security of the organization using tools and techniques of the penetration test. The goal of the testing tem is to find out security weaknesses under controlled circumstances to eliminate the vulnerabilities before unauthorised users can exploit them. Penetration testing is an authorised action to correct the hackers (unauthorised users) activities. Penetration test is a better way to find the security weaknesses that exist in a network or system. Penetration test result will increase the awareness of the management people and also it will assist them to take an important decision making processes. Management people can find their system security weaknesses conducting penetration test in their organization. Depending upon the organization penetration test will differ and time frame of the test will depend on the type of test. If the penetration test is conducted badly then this test have serious costs like system roaring and cramming. Organization needs to have dynamic consent on this test while conducting or performing.

The benefits of ecommerce and emarketing

The benefits of ecommerce and emarketing The most current and relevant literature on e-marketing is examined and the relevant areas disused in various literature which has connection with the objective of the business project are explored in this chapter. E-business and e-commerce are modern form of business which is performed in a technologically advanced business environment. The e-business is termed as the application of information technology for internal business process as well as activities in which a company engages during commercial activity. These activities can include functional activities such as finance, marketing, human resources management and operations (Philips, 2003). Ecommerce is the use of Information and communication technology to enable external activities and relationship with individuals, groups and other businesses (Laudon and Traver, 2002).Due to the growth in electronic media for business functions , the way of interaction between the supplier, distributor, seller and customer has become changed and more enhanced. E-commerce channels allow businesses to get to the customer faster, with more velocity, and more value (Budhwani, 2001) E-Marketing E-marketing is a process of building and maintaining customer relationship through online activities to facilitate the exchange of ideas, products and services that satisfy the goals of both parties (Mohammed et al, 2001). Strauss et al (2003) suggest that e-marketing covers a wide range of IT related applications with three main aims: Transforming marketing strategies to create more customer value through more effective segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning strategies; more efficiently planning and executing the conception, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and ideas; creating exchanges that satisfy individual consumer and organisational customers objectives. Business is mainly based on exchange process; e-marketing has the ability to be beneficial for all the people who involve in the business. Mainly organization has realised this and started to refocus their marketing strategy using e-marketing. E-Marketing versus Traditional Marketing As number of individuals spending their time on internet is increasing rapidly, e-marketing is growing as a powerful marketing tool. Due to advancement and utilisation of technology in Internet has grown rapidly, thereby e-marketing gained more attention by most of the firms and due to this the traditional marketing methods loses its value. The traditional marketing channels like as television, print media, and radio are becoming less popular. The traditional media are competing with the electronic media for seeking customer attention but the Internet and appear to be gaining over the other media. On implementing E-Marketing a company can reach its customer directly through website, e-mail, social networking sites and various other means. E-Marketing is cost effective and also gains lot of attention of the customer. These factors make E-Marketing to overlap the traditional marketing. The Internet is assumed to be an important channel for marketing and distribution of products and services. This is, among other things, due to the cost-effectiveness of the Internet and the convenience for customers. With the Internet marketers can reach out to a broad customer base, locate target customers, identify their needs and communicate with them at a relatively low cost. The Internet provides an opportunity for market testing and optimization. Increasing digitalization will make it progressively easier to experimentally alter particular aspects of a business and quickly observe how customers respond (Wyner, 2000) Benefits of e-marketing E-marketing has several benefits which can be capitalised by the organisation to gain competitive advantages; those benefits are listed below, The web allows non-linear communication in which there is free flow and exchange of information, and there is a potential for two-way communication between a business and its audiences in different contexts on a one to one basis, and a many-to-many basis. The many-to-many model involves communication between customers (Hoffman and Novak, 1995). E-marketing can increase an organisations geographic coverage beyond its traditional operating area. E-marketing will also make the organisation to have a global presence and a wider reach. New market and new customers can be obtained by the company, if the e-marketing is utilised effectively. Moreover e-marketing provides a cheap way of communicating with customers and the business transactions can also be cared out in low cost. A website can be used as a powerful business tool for carrying out sales and services all day providing greater convenience for the customer. Besides that e-marketing can be used for an online sales promotion and provide targeted offers and special privileges to the customer. E-Marketing is fast and flexible communication tool and helps to fulfil the customer retention objective of the company. The internet provides rich sources of marketing data for the marketers, which can be used for decision-making purposes. Additionally e-marketing research supported with appropriate software and technology provides a good data analysis to streamline the process of research. Similarly e-marketing help to improve the brand name and provides a better platform for development of the brand presence. The purpose of branding is to facilitate the organisations task of getting and maintaining a loyal customer base in a cost-effective manner to achieve the highest possible return on investment (De Chernatony and McDonald, 1998, p.17) E-marketing problems There are also few problems with e-marketing that marketers must understand and respond to. Those are outlined below: A companys marketing environment consists of the actors and forces outside marketing that affect the marketing managements ability to develop and maintain successful transactions with its target customers. The marketing environment offers both threats and opportunities (Kotler et al, 2001) The major problem of e-marketing is lack of trust among the online users to make transactions with unknown traders and the customers resistance to change, mainly older and disadvantage people. Next big problem is customers concerns over privacy issues such as spam and unwanted marketing communication. Rising network security doubts over fraud and hacking cause huge setback for e-marketing. Moreover the technology gap between the organization and customer is a disadvantage. There are also difficulties and social impacts in cross-broader trading using electronic media. Customization and Personalization through E-marketing The e-marketing provides customization and personalization benefits to both firm and the customer. Customisation refers to more personalised products availability and tailored communication. The Internet marketing environment offers extensive customization and personalization opportunities. The evolution from marketing on the averages to marketing on the differences is a very prominent theme and a major advantage of the Web market compared to real environments (Reitman, 1994). Customization provides the ability to the customer to order product uniquely as per their need and specification. This helps the firms to know more about the individual customer, so that the offers and communications can be tailored as per the behaviour of the customer. This provides a great competitive advantage. E-marketing and Customer Focus The customer is the central focus for any business organisation and marketing activities are will be build to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction. Customer loyalty is emerged from satisfaction and from loyalty come more profitability and sales. The customer is the key element for all business but the e-marketing make customer even more powerful. Due the technology advancement customers are more demanding with search engines, more substitute product availability and multi-channel user friendly technology. Customer makes up the online communities of an organisation. Consumer behaviour growing to be more complex. But e-marketing coupled with emerging technologies enables more precise segmentation and targeting of customer. E-marketing helps to implement personalised offering to each customer, this done by obtaining permission and sends offers to target customer. The interactive nature of internet allows getting quicker customer feedback. These factors of e-marketing helps firms to remain customer focused.

Admissions Essay - Yo Soy El Chinito! :: Medicine College Admissions Essays

Admissions Essay - Yo Soy El Chinito! The following is an account of a day in my life. It begins with a dream: "Andale, es todo," I say (All right, that's it!). "The medication is bringing your blood pressure back to normal. You'll be fine. By the way, how are the kids?" I pat my patient Pancho, a farm laborer, on his brawny shoulder and escort him down the hallway of the Mendota Clinic. I wake up. Lying in bed, I contemplate how vividly my dream depicts the future I aspire to: administering primary care in Mendota, a small farming community in central California where I grew up. Mendota is populated mostly by Hispanics. I remember how everyone called me "el chinito" (the little Chinese), and knew my family because we were the only Chinese family in town. In high school, I observed many physicians come and go at the Mendota Clinic where I volunteered; those departed did not speak Spanish or have extensive exposure to Hispanic culture. Moreover, I was saddened because I saw many people, particularly migrant farm workers, succumb to preventable diseases. In spite of persistent signs of illness, most of them went without treatment because they lacked health insurance or were unwilling to visit a doctor for fear of what they might discover. Members of underserved communities, such as Mendota, require more than a well-trained physician if they are to receive the health ca re they need. They need a physician who is also trustworthy, affable, and understanding of their plight: a friend. I yearn to be that person serving in Mendota. After brunch, I go to the gym, although today I do not plan to work out. Winston, a wheelchair-bound 45 year old who suffers from cerebellar myoclonus, awaits me to assist him with his workout and shower, as he has for the past four years. Winston's neurological disease, since its onset during his college years, has prevented him from properly coordinating his movements and fully contracting his voluntary muscles. Over time, the disease has progressively robbed him of the physiological functions which most people take for granted in daily life--such as the ability to see clearly, pronounce words accurately, and walk. Seeing Winston's favorite blue plaid shirt invokes my recollection of our first encounter. I was working out when I saw Winston slip from one of the weight machines. Admissions Essay - Yo Soy El Chinito! :: Medicine College Admissions Essays Admissions Essay - Yo Soy El Chinito! The following is an account of a day in my life. It begins with a dream: "Andale, es todo," I say (All right, that's it!). "The medication is bringing your blood pressure back to normal. You'll be fine. By the way, how are the kids?" I pat my patient Pancho, a farm laborer, on his brawny shoulder and escort him down the hallway of the Mendota Clinic. I wake up. Lying in bed, I contemplate how vividly my dream depicts the future I aspire to: administering primary care in Mendota, a small farming community in central California where I grew up. Mendota is populated mostly by Hispanics. I remember how everyone called me "el chinito" (the little Chinese), and knew my family because we were the only Chinese family in town. In high school, I observed many physicians come and go at the Mendota Clinic where I volunteered; those departed did not speak Spanish or have extensive exposure to Hispanic culture. Moreover, I was saddened because I saw many people, particularly migrant farm workers, succumb to preventable diseases. In spite of persistent signs of illness, most of them went without treatment because they lacked health insurance or were unwilling to visit a doctor for fear of what they might discover. Members of underserved communities, such as Mendota, require more than a well-trained physician if they are to receive the health ca re they need. They need a physician who is also trustworthy, affable, and understanding of their plight: a friend. I yearn to be that person serving in Mendota. After brunch, I go to the gym, although today I do not plan to work out. Winston, a wheelchair-bound 45 year old who suffers from cerebellar myoclonus, awaits me to assist him with his workout and shower, as he has for the past four years. Winston's neurological disease, since its onset during his college years, has prevented him from properly coordinating his movements and fully contracting his voluntary muscles. Over time, the disease has progressively robbed him of the physiological functions which most people take for granted in daily life--such as the ability to see clearly, pronounce words accurately, and walk. Seeing Winston's favorite blue plaid shirt invokes my recollection of our first encounter. I was working out when I saw Winston slip from one of the weight machines.

Did Sparta Achieve Her Goal :: essays research papers

Did Sparta Achieve Her Goal? Sparta is the most formidable city known in history. Famous for her impressive military power, she proved that strength didn’t lie in numbers, it lay in Spartan discipline. Sparta started out as a small city fighting only to survive against enemy invaders. Her goal was to avoid defeat from other city-states and she very nearly succeeded in achieving it. Using self-denial, strong discipline and harsh training, Sparta focused almost all her attention on achieving her goal. Known as the ‘tamer of men’, her strength made all but Spartan men shrink in fear. However, Sparta did not wage war any more lightly then any other army, she simply waged it better. Despite the cold, military driven surface, Sparta often engaged in merriment. Festivals were celebrated with vigor, men were good to their families and their women were renowned for their beauty. Nevertheless, they always refused to become distracted from their purpose. Civil wars and ancient rivalries made it painfull y clear that Sparta had no intention of allowing Athens or any other rival take over. However, she was still quite willing to join arms with the same rivals to fight off foreign invaders. When Greece was threatened by Persia, Sparta halted her competition with Athens and relentlessly fought back the enemy forces. After her triumph over the Persians, Sparta’s temporary peace with Athens was short-lived. The Greeks soon returned to their petty affairs. For 75 years Sparta and Athens fought for supremacy. Eventually, Sparta won, but in doing so she finally allowed all of Greece to witness her tragic flaw. Militarily, Sparta was more than impressive. However, in many of the city-states she now had in her power, she set up harsh discipline and dictatorships. This proved that Sparta’s weakness lay in organizing peace among her new found successes. When the disaster of Sparta’s catastrophic defeat from little Thebes reached her people, they continued to celebrate their Youth Festival refusing to show any emotion-this was still Sparta. It would be long before Sparta would fade away, but nevertheless she quietly withered away; ironically still displaying the quiet, stubborn Spartan discipline. Her goal of surviving against all other forces was so close to being attained but she made a small but dire mistake. Foolishly underestimating the power of Thebes, Sparta failed to see that Thebes was incredibly similar to her younger self. Sparta began as a small city merely waging war in order to survive; Thebes had the same motivation for war, except that their key to survival was to knock out Sparta.

Personal Narrative: Fate :: essays research papers

I gazed out the window, amazed at how the sun rose from the horizon and illuminated the dimly lit car. It was the beginning of August but my teeth chattered violently as I sat against the cold seat. My grandfather was wise to insist that I change from my bathing suit before we left from our annual trip in Atlantic City, New Jersey, however, my sister and I choose to spend our last minutes merrily wadding in the ocean. A feeble yawn escaped my lips as I felt the cold penetrate through the flimsy blanket and make my clothes cling to my skin. I was going home. I had anticipated the trip all summer long and now that it was over, I wanted one more swim, one more ride, and one more delightful taste of fluffy cotton candy. It was time to go back to the reality of an unhealthy grandma and the fear of death. My grandma was an alcoholic and I had grown used to the numerous trips to the hospital and the promises of change with the apologies of regret. Day after day, she would sit in the old flower-patterned wooden chair drinking the forty-ounce beer, which she weakly tried to obfuscate in the wrinkled brown paper bag. At the innocent age of eleven, I knew about the evil brown elixir that she tried to conceal and the smell of it made my nostrils flare and stomach churn in repulsion. The silence in the car became deafening as the reality of what awaited me at home became translucent. The doctors would do as they always did, give her advice, the number to a rehabilitation center and she would come home with a cry of redemption. After a week of abstinence and several incidents of violence, she would sooth her emotions with a drink. In order to regain composure she needed divine intervention and the support of her family. Unlike most of the members of my family, I still believed that she was capable of recovery but I was also slowly losing faith in her. Before we left for New Jersey, she had learned that her liver was failing and she had no more chances to rectify her life. She had to stop. Through my tired eyes, I observed a feathery white cloud float across the sky and obscure the radiant sun. We were almost home and I could not get the haunting thoughts out of my head.

Most Politically and economically stable country

What country do you believe is the most politically and economically stable country to live in and why? Personally, I believe that the most politically and economically stable country to live in the world is Finland. The country is an ideal place to live in as it very few political concerns and few economic problems. Basically, for any country to be politically stable, it first has to learn discipline and adhere to moral standards. In this regard, Finland has consistently maintained very low levels of corruption. In the country, there are almost no reported corruption cases such as abuse of power while in public office, nepotism, bribery, extortion, graft, embezzlement, and cronyism. As a result, based on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, the survey which determines the level of corruption all countries in the world, Finland has consistently ranked number one, along with Denmark and New Zealand, among the least corrupt countries in the world. In other words, people living in Finland take comfort in knowing that all the taxes that they pay are put into good use since there is almost no corruption in the country. In addition, low corruption levels could also mean that the budget allocation for every department is free from kickbacks, which are usually illegally taken by public officials, and can lead to favorable gains such as road constructions, establishment of infrastructures, and improvement of public transportation, among others. Moreover, considering the low levels of corruption, it is safe to say that the country is lead by officials who have a genuine concern for the welfare of their people and who place the nation’s interest above anything else. In addition, these leaders can also serve as good examples other countries around the world. Furthermore, another notable aspect of the country is its relatively powerful economy. Basically Finland is a country that is highly-industrialized and has a free market economy, which rival that of other European economic powerhouses such as Germany and the United Kingdom. The country is also a key player in foreign trade as it also has large manufacturing companies of vehicles, machinery, chemicals, forestry products, and electronics. Moreover, the country has also been cited as the most competitive country from 2003 to 2005 and in 2006 for its research, development, and innovation, particularly on information technology. This is best shown in the success of Nokia, the leading mobile phone company, which has greatly contributed to Finland’s economic success. Other companies that are major contributors to the country’s economy include Akey Finnyards, which manufactures the largest cruise ships in the world, and Store Enso, which is the largest manufacturer of paper in the world. However, aside from contributing to Finland’s economic growth, these companies in the industry have also generated more jobs for the people living in the country. In addition, the low levels of corruption have also lead to more investors in the country, and as a result, the prices of goods have not dramatically increased. In short, I believe that Finland’s stable economy and progressive economy have made it one of the world’s most ideal countries to live in. Â  

The fashion industry should not feel obligated

The fashion industry should not feel obligated to use plus sized models in their campaigns. Do you agree? BY sashays The fashion industry should not feel obligated to use plus sized models in their Women these days are constantly bombarded with advertisements and campaigns telling them what they should wear, what they should eat and how they should portray themselves. It has become a race to try and achieve a size zero look because women feel as if it has become the new norm. That is why, I believe the fashion industry should be obliged to use plus size model. A plus size model is a model who is a US size 8 or above.Even though these models are described in the â€Å"plus† category, making them appear to be an outcast, what is ironic is that the majority of women will fit into this category. Therefore, I agree that fashion industry should be obligated to use plus size models. There are three reasons why: firstly, to stop increasing the social pressure on first world women to h ave the ideal body image; secondly; prevent psychological effect on women in trying to maintain an ideal body image; thirdly, the potential increase in business. To begin with, the expectation for women to mirror the body image of a model has come omnipresent.You find them in fashion magazines, TV shows, fitness programs and even Barbie Dolls. Women, especially teenagers look at these icons as role models and have been manipulated by society into thinking they must look a certain way and weight a certain amount to fit in. It is the fashion industries to blame for this, because by using impossibly thin models in almost every campaign it is putting pressure on women to look perfect. However, women cannot attain these perfect bodies because not only have the images been altered but are unnatural and simply unachievable.Due to this, women now days are lacking confidence as they feel self-conscious about their body. In a recent survey done by the National Institute on Media and the Famil y in Washington, it was found that 40% of girls from ages 9-10 are dissatisfied with their weight. This suggests that the distressing and impairing body image concern seems to be becoming more prevalent at a younger and younger age. Furthermore, according to CDC, 20% of the teenage girls' suicide cases in USA are due to bullying about someone's weight. This clearly highlights the negative effect y Just using skinny models is having.The society has become superficial as it measures beauty in size. It is crucial that fashion industries are forced to use plus size model in order to change society's view of beauty. It is not right to put pressure on women to distort their healthy bodies too feel accepted. In addition, not having plus sized models in campaigns causes women to suffer from harmful effects as they try to replicate images of a zero size model. In a recent survey, it was found there are up to seventy million individuals worldwide who have an eating disorder, and of hem 90% ar e women between the ages of twelve and twenty-five (US Mental Health Administration).Some women have become so desperate to lose weight that they turned to starvation developing bulimia and anorexia. However, it is not the skinny models to blame for this, because they also suffer from these conditions. Even models feel pressurized to stay skinny and many models starve for days before a runway until they can barely keep their eyes open. Kristin Clement, former Vogue editor revealed that some models had turned to dangerous methods such as eating tissue. Yes, tissues. Models eat this dehydrated, bleached paper in order to become â€Å"Paris thin†.If this is not stopped it will not be long until all women struggling with weight loss will try this to. Have we become this inhuman that being skinny is more important than life? Hence, I believe it is vital for fashion industries to use plus size models to promote more healthy living and prevent unnecessary deaths. Finally, by using p lus sized models there would be an increase in business. The average plus size model ranges from size 8-14, they are not fat, they are healthy. A study done Warwick Business found that adverts and campaigns which predominantly feature skinny models are more likely to discourage sales.H have currently begun using plus size models for their swim suit campaigns. CEO Karl – John Person said he feels â€Å"irresponsible with the type of female body image being portrayed† and now is committed to market and encourage diverse body types. This has begun to influence many more women to feel confident about their body. According to the Business Insider, those who are labeled as plus size account for 67% of the apparel arching population, bringing in retail revenue of nearly $16 billion Just in US every year.This indicates clothes for plus sizes have become very important in the market. Furthermore, many stores have begun using plus size mannequins. By displaying larger mannequins , not only do women see how the clothes would fit their shape but they would also feel more confident due to the increase in publication of the plus size within the fashion industry. Hence are likely to purchase more. Therefore, I believe there fashion industries should use plus size models because here are many positive outcomes.However, some people may argue that many people are naturally really thin, but only 5% (SCUD) of the women have the skinny model body, the majority of the other 95% will resort to unhealthy living conditions. You may also argue that it's a models Job to look extremely skinny, however would you let your daughters risk their well-being for a moment of fame? Does that really make it okay? Even though plus size models have made a massive stride in obtaining respect in a business that demands skinny; resulting in more full figured women to race the high fashion magazine covers and to walk the main stream fashion shows.The portrayal that thinner is better is stil l deeply engraved in society. This is putting pressure on women to be someone they are not and resulting in harsh life threatening disease such as anorexia. There are countless advantages on having plus size models in the industries from benefits in business to benefits in well-being. Therefore, we need to do something to change the craving for the unrealistic body image. Plus size models do not promote obesity, they reflect reality.